As the unofficial start of summer rolls in, and brings with it all the excitement of family barbeques and weekends in the sun, I’m actually pretty bummed. For me, it’s much less the beginning of a new season—but the end of a very special one: spring turkey season.

The few weeks in April and May when turkey hunting is open is undeniably my favorite time of year. The quiet chill of winter is finally giving way to sunshine and hints of green. Birds are finding their voices again. The insufferable clouds of mosquitoes haven’t developed just yet, and it’s the perfect time to sit quietly against a tree and watch the world come back to life.

Don’t get me wrong – getting out of bed at 3:30 in the morning is painful. Every early morning I have the same thought: why do I do this to myself? It doesn’t take much, however—only that first pre-dawn gobble of a big tom turkey from his roost somewhere in the trees—before I remember why. Only a lucky few know what it’s like before the forest wakes up on a spring morning, when the only sounds are a few chuck-will’s-widows calling out and the crunch of last fall’s leaves beneath your boots.

This wild turkey struts across the field. black_throated_green_warbler/Flickr

A window into a wild world

It’s also an indescribable experience to call to a gobbler as if you were a lonely hen, and to have him respond with gusto. They’re incredible birds. To me, they always resemble something prehistoric, carefully picking a quiet path through the trees with their long, scaly legs and tiny, white golf ball heads—until the toms display full strut, with tail fanned and chest feathers puffed out. Then they look like Thanksgiving walking through the woods.

To them, everything incites curiosity, and watching them explore decaying logs or empty ditches is like a window into another world. This spring, on one special morning, we called in three jakes (juvenile males), and we watched them chase grasshoppers and play turkey tag for several minutes until interest in a squirrel drew them further into the woods. They had been entirely unaware of our presence, and I felt pretty lucky to get to watch them behave as they have for millennia. Several years ago, when turkeys were nearly gone from many places around the country, we would not have been so fortunate. Extraordinary conservation efforts—thanks to dedicated men and women everywhere—have gone into rebuilding wild turkey populations and protecting their forest habitats.

Family Traditions

Hunting during turkey season with my father. NWF Photo by Rachel Dawson

Following my dad down an old logging road every Saturday morning of the season, like clockwork, is another reason why this is a special opportunity. Despite having three decades squarely under my belt, it’s still important to be able to spend this time as father and daughter—and I still learn so much from him with every adventure. He has taught me everything about being an outdoors woman: from how to fine-tune the clucks and purrs in my calling, to the importance of conserving wildlife and natural resources for the future of our hunting heritage.

Indeed, this season was successful. Our family harvested three toms, plenty for us. But it’s clearly not always about the hunt. There is so much more that comes with pursuing game: a chance to experience the wild in a unique way, an important time together as family, and a deeper understanding of the importance of giving back to ensure that our sportsmen’s (and women’s) traditions persist for future generations. So while I might be disappointed to see another turkey season in the books, I know I can look forward to seeing those jakes return as toms next spring…and there is plenty of summer fishing to come in the meantime!

]]>http://blog.nwf.org/2013/05/lets-talk-turkey-conservation-traditions-and-turkey-season/feed/680800Let’s Talk Turkey: The History of a Wild Icon in Americahttp://blog.nwf.org/2012/11/lets-talk-turkey-history-of-wild-icon-in-america/
http://blog.nwf.org/2012/11/lets-talk-turkey-history-of-wild-icon-in-america/#commentsMon, 19 Nov 2012 14:32:26 +0000http://blog.nwf.org/?p=70950The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is one of wildlife conservation’s greatest success stories. Unlike the accomplishment of cooking up a delicious stuffed turkey for Thanksgiving, this success story is about wild turkey. In the early 19th Century the wild turkey was reduced to a population of just 30,000. Today, the population numbers about 7 million in North America.

Rio Grande Wilid Turkey puffing out his feathers. U.S. FWS photo by Robert Burton.

The domesticated turkey of today bears little resemblance to their wild ancestors. Turkeys are a native North American bird that was a food source for the Native Americans who introduced turkeys to the recently-arrived Pilgrims and Spanish Conquistadors in the 15th Century. The Aztec Indians of Mexico domesticated the Mexican subspecies of the wild turkey (called guajolotes) and the Spanish explorers took some of these back to Europe in the mid-16th Century where they became common farmyard animals. These domestic turkeys eventually completed the circuit and came back to North American turkey farms from Europe. In fact the domesticated versions are so much larger and with so much more breast meat that they are unable to fly and have lost the instincts their wild cousins depend upon for their survival. The Mexican subspecies is now endangered in the wild but the other subspecies in North America are thriving.

Original wild turkey distribution in North America

Wild turkeys can fly and run at incredible speeds. They reach up to 55 mph flying and 25 mph running. They are also far more beautiful than the white domestic version that becomes the supermarket’s butterball. The wild turkey’s dark feathers are iridescent with shades of red, green and copper that shine when hit by the sun. The male bird (called a gobbler, or Tom) is the most colorful with a bright red head and neck wattle with a beautiful fan of tail feathers that it spreads out to impress the lady turkeys (called hens).

Turkeys are the largest member of the grouse family and they are the second largest wild bird in North America (after Trumpeter swans). Males weigh 11-24 lbs and females 5-12 lbs. Like many sexually dimorphic species, males are selected for maximum sex appeal while females are more sensibly selected to be the right size to glean food from their environment and escape predators. Males can get away with being larger than females as they leave all the rearing of the chicks (poults) to the hens and are not a part of family flocks.

A flock of wild turkey as they strolled by. Photo by Sterling Miller

Although wild turkeys were once nearly extirpated, the four American subspecies have been restored to most of their former distribution, and to some areas where wild turkeys didn’t originally occur. Turkey hunters were a major force behind the recovery of this bird through their support of the National Wild Turkey Federation and pressure on state wildlife departments. Wild turkeys are among the most difficult animals to hunt as they have extremely keen eyesight and are very smart. Hunters usually try to attract gobblers during the spring breeding season by imitating the calls of females or other males and it takes a lot of practice to be to fool a wary gobbler.

Benjamin Franklin praised the wild turkey and dissed our national bird, the bald eagle, as being “a Bird of bad moral charcter….[who] does not get his living honestly.” I suppose this criticism stems from the fact that smaller birds attack eagles with impunity and eagles steal food from osprey and other birds. Franklin contrasted the bald eagle with the turkey,

“…a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America….Though a little vain and silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

No doubt Franklin’s perception of turkey’s as “vain” reflects the male bird’s strutting behavior during breeding season. Courtship displays like this, however, are common in many birds and other animals and serve a vital purpose in allowing females to choose the best available mate to father their offspring. Franklin, himself, was known to dress up to impress the ladies and this is no different in intent or function from what many wildlife species, including turkeys, do.

Today, the term “turkey” has come to mean different things including “a stupid, foolish, or inept person.” However, this definition must refer to domestic turkeys and not the the canny wild turkey. While the turkey on your Thanksgiving table is very different from the wild turkey, this success story is one I encourage a share this holiday season.

What wild animal or plant are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Let us know in the comments below!

The wild turkey is a true American species that is native only to the United States, Canada and Mexico. There are five subspecies found across North America. They were almost wiped out in the U.S. due to do over-hunting and habitat destruction by the early 1900s. After successful reintroduction programs, however, there are now an estimated 7 million wild turkeys today.

Wild Turkeys in Fall

Wild turkeys live in wooded areas throughout the eastern United States and in scattered pockets in the West. At this time of year they are gobbling up acorns, hickory and beech nuts, berries and seeds (as well as any small critters they can find) in an effort to pack on as much insulating fat as they can to get them through the cold months.

Benjamin Franklin argued unsuccessfully that the wild turkey should have been America’s symbol rather than the bald eagle. Franklin thought bald eagle was a poor symbol because of its habit of stealing meals from other predators such as osprey.

Wild turkeys are native to North America. Populations plummeted after European colonization as a result of over-hunting and habitat loss. Due to strong conservation and reintroduction programs, however, the population has recovered and is growing.

Male turkeys are called “toms” and females “hens.” Baby turkeys are called “poults.”

Wild turkeys feed on seeds, berries, fruits, shoots, buds and nuts. They also eat insects and other invertebrates and even reptiles and amphibians.

Wild turkeys were an important food source for American Indians and were most likely part of the first Thanksgiving feast along with other native foods such as corn, squash, fish and venison.

This Thanksgiving consider serving a heritage breed turkey and help keep traditional turkey breeds in existence. Heritage turkeys are typically pasture-raised and live better lives than animals confined in mass-producing industrial farms. This method is also better for the surrounding environment.